Karl Lachmann 209332 225913814 2008-07-16T00:05:36Z Olessi 220894 Quick-adding category "Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences" (using [[WP:HOTCAT|HotCat]]) [[Image:Karl Lachmann.JPG|thumb|right|Karl Lachmann.]] '''Karl Konrad Friedrich Wilhelm Lachmann''' ([[March 4]], [[1793]] - [[March 13]], [[1851]]) was a [[Germany|German]] [[philologist]] and [[critic]]. ==Biography== He was born in [[Braunschweig|Brunswick]], in what is now [[Lower Saxony]]. He studied at [[university of Leipzig|Leipzig]] and [[university of Göttingen|Göttingen]], devoting himself mainly to philological studies. In [[1815]] he joined the [[Prussian army]] as a volunteer ''[[chasseur]]'' and accompanied his detachment to [[Paris]], but did not see active service. In 1816 he became an assistant master in the Friedrichswerder [[gymnasium (school)|gymnasium]] at [[Berlin]], and a ''[[Privatdozent]]'' at the university. The same summer he became one of the principal masters in the Friedrichs-Gymnasium of [[Königsberg]], where he assisted his colleague, the Germanist [[Friedrich Karl Köpke]], with his edition of [[Rudolf von Ems]]' ''[[Barlaam und Josaphat]]'' (1818), and also assisted his friend in a contemplated edition of the works of [[Walther von der Vogelweide]]. In January 1818 he became professor extraordinarius of classical philology in the [[University of Königsberg]], and at the same time began to lecture on [[Old German]] [[grammar]] and the [[Middle High German]] poets. He devoted himself during the following seven years to an extraordinarily detailed study of those subjects, and in 1824 obtained leave of absence in order to search the libraries of middle and south Germany for further materials. In [[1825]] Lachmann was nominated extraordinary professor of classical and German philology at the [[Humboldt University]], [[Berlin]] (ordinary professor 1827); and in 1830 he was admitted a member of the [[Academy of Sciences]]. Lachmann, who was the translator of the first volume of PE Müller's ''Sagabibliothek des skandinavischen Altertums'' (1816), is a figure of considerable importance in the history of German philology (see [[Rudolf von Raumer]], ''Geschichte der germanischen Philologie'', 1870). In his ''"Habilitationsschrift" über die ursprungliche Gestalt des Gedichts von der Nibelungen Noth'' (1816), and in his review of [[Friedrich Heinrich von der Hagen|Hagen]]'s ''Nibelungen'' and [[Georg Friedrich Benecke|Benecke]]'s ''Bonerius'', contributed in 1817 to the ''Jenaische Literaturzeitung'' he had already laid down the rules of [[textual criticism]] and elucidated the phonetic and metrical principle of Middle High German in a manner which marked a distinct advance in that branch of investigation. The rigidly scientific character of his method becomes increasingly apparent in the ''Auswahl aus den hochdeutschen Dichtern des dreizehnten Jahrhunderts'' (1820), in the edition of [[Hartmann von Aue|Hartmann]]'s ''Iwein'' (1827), in those of Walther von der Vogelweide (1827) and [[Wolfram von Eschenbach]] (1833), in the papers "''Über das [[Hildebrandslied]]''," "''Über althochdeutsche Betonung und Verskunst''," "''Über den Eingang des Parzivals''," and "''Über drei Bruchstücke niederrheinischer Gedichte''" published in the ''Abhandlungen'' of the Berlin Academy, and in ''Der Nibelunge Not und die Klage'' (1826), which was followed by a critical commentary in 1836. Lachmann's ''Betrachtungen über Homer's Iliad'', first published in the ''Abhandlungen'' of the Berlin Academy in 1837 and 1841, in which he sought to show that the ''[[Iliad]]'' consists of eighteen independent "layers" variously enlarged and interpolated, had considerable influence on 19th century [[Homeric scholarship]], although his views are no longer accepted. His smaller edition of the [[New Testament]] appeared in 1831, the 3rd edition in 1846, and the larger second edition, in two volumes between 1842 and 1850. The plan of Lachmann's edition, which he explained in his ''Studia Krit.'' of 1830, is a modification of the unaccomplished project of [[Richard Bentley]]. Lachmann was the first major editor to break from the [[Erasmus|Textus receptus]], seeking to restore the most ancient reading current in [[manuscript]]s of the [[Alexandrian text-type]], using the agreement of the [[Western text-type|Western]] authorities ([[Old Latin]] and Greek Western [[Uncial]]s) as the main proof of antiquity of a reading where the oldest Alexandrian authorities differ. Lachmann's edition of [[Lucretius]] (1850), which was the principal occupation of his life from 1845, is perhaps his greatest achievement of scholarship. He demonstrated how the three main manuscripts all derived from one [[archetype]], containing 302 pages of 26 lines to a page. Further, he was able to show that this archetype was a copy of a manuscript written in a [[Carolingian minuscule|minuscule]] hand, which in itself was a copy of a manuscript of the 4th or 5th centuries written in [[rustic capitals]]. To say his recreation of the text was accepted is anticlimactic; [[Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro|HAJ Munro]] characterized this accomplishment as "a work which will be a landmark for scholars as long as the Latin language continues to be studied." Lachmann also edited [[Propertius]] (1816); [[Catullus]] (1829); [[Tibullus]] (1829); [[Genesius]] (1834); [[Terentianus Maurus]] (1836); [[Babrius]] (1845); [[Avianus]] (1845); [[Gaius (jurist)|Gaius]] (1841-1842); the ''Agrimensores Romani'' (1848-1852); and [[Lucilius]] (edited after his death by Vahlen, 1876). He also translated [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s sonnets (1820) and ''[[Macbeth]]'' (1829). == References == {{1911}} {{BD|1793|1851|Lachmann, Karl}} [[Category:German philologists]] [[Category:German classical scholars]] [[Category:People from Braunschweig]] [[Category:People from Brunswick]] [[Category:University of Leipzig alumni]] [[Category:University of Göttingen alumni]] [[Category:University of Königsberg faculty]] [[Category:Humboldt University of Berlin faculty]] [[Category:Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences]] [[cs:Karl Lachmann]] [[de:Karl Lachmann]] [[es:Carl Lachmann]] [[fr:Karl Lachmann]] [[is:Karl Lachmann]] [[it:Karl Lachmann]] [[pl:Karl Lachmann]] [[pt:Karl Lachmann]] [[sv:Karl Lachmann]]